Remembering The Shocking Night One Of The ‘Righteous Brothers’ Died In Kalamazoo

On November 5th, 2003, legendary pop-duo The Righteous Brothers were scheduled to perform a concert in Kalamazoo at Miller Auditorium. Singer Bobby Hatfield, opposite Bill medley in the duo, never made it to the show. According to a 2003 article from Billboard magazine, Hatfield was found dead in his room at the Radisson Plaza Hotel by staffers after wake-up calls before the show went unanswered. He left behind a wife and four children.

The initial autopsy performed on Hatfield by the Kalamazoo County Examiner's office listed the cause of death as a heart attack. Further autopsy results later determined that a contributing factor to the singer's death was cocaine intoxication, which was announced in January of 2004.

Those who were planning to watch the show in Kalamazoo didn't know why the concert was canceled at first. CBS News reported that night an announcement was made to the gathered crowd at Miller Auditorium at about 7:05 that evening that the 7:30 show had been canceled. They said it was because of "a personal emergency of an unspecified nature." As the night went on in Kalamazoo, there was a growing buzz around town as reports came in on local and national outlets through television and radio that Bobby Hatfield had died suddenly of unknown causes.

The duo who had produced such timeless hits like "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Unchained Melody" would never sing together again. Bill Medley continued to perform solo shows for some time after Hatfield's death.